Levy Rozman
Levy Rozman | ||||||||||
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Country | United States | |||||||||
Born | Brooklyn, New York | December 5, 1995|||||||||
Title | International Master | |||||||||
FIDE rating | 2356 (December 2021) | |||||||||
Peak rating | 2421 (August 2018) | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
Channels | ||||||||||
Years active | 2018–present | |||||||||
Genre | Online chess | |||||||||
Subscribers | 1.29 million (GothamChess) 102 thousand (Gotham City)[1] | |||||||||
Total views | 286 million (GothamChess) 19 million (Gotham City)[1] | |||||||||
Associated acts | Hikaru Nakamura, Anna Rudolf, Eric Rosen, Antonio Radić, BotezLive | |||||||||
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Updated: December 11, 2021 |
Twitch information | |
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Channel | |
Years active | 2018–present |
Followers | 505 thousand |
Total views | 38.2 milion |
Follower and view counts updated as of November 12, 2021. |
Levy Rozman (born December 5, 1995), known online as GothamChess, is a chess International Master[2] and commentator. He produces content on the online platforms Twitch and YouTube.
Early life[]
Rozman was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 5, 1995, and lived in both New York and New Jersey growing up.[3][4] He began playing chess at the age of 6 as an extracurricular activity and entered his first tournament at the age of 7.[5][6] Rozman attained the titles of National Master in 2011 through the US Chess Federation, FIDE Master in 2016, and International Master in 2018.[7][2] Rozman started as a scholastic chess coach in 2014.[8]
Online career[]
Rozman is a Twitch streamer and YouTuber. As of October 2nd, 2021, he has the most subscribed chess channel on YouTube, with 1.18 million subscribers.[5][9][10] Rozman works closely with Chess.com and has been part of their streaming partnership since 2017.[11] Rozman is a regular commentator for the platform, analyzing tournaments like PogChamps and the 2020 Candidates Tournament.[3]
Like many online chess personalities, Rozman experienced a surge of growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly following the release of The Queen's Gambit.[6][12] Rozman has multiple videos with more than one million views. These include an instructional opening overview where he discusses how to play the Queen's Gambit and a video where he plays against the Beth Harmon bot on Chess.com.[6] He has done in-depth explanations of games played in the series.[13] Rozman's YouTube channel reached 1 million subscribers on 1 June 2021.[14]
Rozman entered international news in March 2021 when he was defeated by an Indonesian chess player nicknamed Dewa_Kipas or "Fan God".[15][16] Rozman suspected that his opponent was cheating, and reported his opponent's account to the Chess.com Fair Play Team. Dewa_Kipas' account was later closed for cheating (and Dewa_Kipas later was unable to play at a high level in a series of live matches),[17] which drew backlash from Indonesian netizens and resulted in Rozman being harassed on social media. Rozman later went private on his social media accounts and took a short hiatus from streaming.[15][16]
Philanthropy[]
On October 14, 2021, Rozman announced the Levy Rozman Scholarship Fund, through which he is donating $100,000 to elementary, middle, and high school chess programs. The Fund is administered by ChessKid, a subsidiary of Chess.com, and schools can be awarded between $5,000 and $15,000 to pay for the costs of training, tournament fees, and travel expenses.[18]
References[]
- ^ a b "About GothamChess". YouTube.
- ^ a b "Rozman, Levy". ratings.fide.com. Retrieved 2021-06-26.
- ^ a b "Levy Rozman". Chess.com. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
- ^ Alostatz, Steve (30 January 2020). "International chess master coming to campus". The Lantern. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
- ^ a b Greenwald, Morgan. "This chess teacher quit his full-time job to become a streamer: 'It's become [the primary source of income]'". Yahoo! Entertainment. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
- ^ a b c Stevens, Ashlie D. (13 November 2020). "How "The Queen's Gambit" is inspiring a wave of new chess fans, especially women". Salon. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
- ^ "12879834: Levy Rozman". US Chess Federaton. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
- ^ About page, gothamchess.com
- ^ Copeland, Sam (18 September 2021). "The Top YouTube Chess Channels | Congrats To GothamChess On #1!!!". Chess.com. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
- ^ Toffa, Chandler (26 November 2021). "GothamChess: How Levy Rozman Became The Internet's Chess Teacher". YouTube. Chess.com. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
- ^ "Chess Streamers Directory". Chess.com. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
- ^ Gregory, Molly (19 November 2020). "The Queen's Gambit Has Caused a Huge Surge in Chess Set Sales and Online Classes". MentalFloss. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
- ^ Ellis, Philip (5 November 2020). "The True Stories Behind 7 Pivotal Chess Matches in 'The Queen's Gambit'". Men's Health. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
- ^ 1 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS!, retrieved 2021-06-04
- ^ a b "Indonesian Chess Player Beats Online Grand Master, Causes Backlash". go.kompas.com. 9 March 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
- ^ a b "A Bird-Feed Seller Beat a Chess Master Online. Then It Got Ugly". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
- ^ Doggers, Peter. "Cheating Controversy Results In Most-Watched Chess Stream In History". Chess.com. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
- ^ "IM Levy Rozman Announces Chess Scholarship Fund". ChessKid. October 14, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
External links[]
- Official website
- Levy Rozman rating card at FIDE
- Levy Rozman player profile and games at Chessgames.com
- American chess players
- Living people
- 1995 births
- Twitch (service) streamers
- Male YouTubers
- Gaming YouTubers
- People from Brooklyn
- Chess International Masters